Life Sciences Commons^™

Anthropogenic Noise Alters Bat Activity Levels And Echolocation Calls, Jessie P. Bunkley, Christopher J.W. Mcclure, Nathan J. Kleist, Clinton D. Francis, Jesse R. Barber

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Negative impacts from anthropogenic noise are well documented for many wildlife taxa. Investigations of the effects of noise on bats however, have not been conducted outside of the laboratory. Bats that hunt arthropods rely on auditory information to forage. Part of this acoustic information can fall within the spectrum of anthropogenic noise, which can potentially interfere with signal reception and processing. Compressor stations associated with natural gas extraction produce broadband noise 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With over half a million producing gas wells in the U.S. this infrastructure is a major source of noise pollution across …